THURSDAY, 22 DECEMBER, 2016

PHOTO ATTACHED: PHOTO 1 – L-R SENIOR NURSE ALISON WRIGHT, STAFF NURSE ALWYN MARSHALL, KAREN MOLYNEUX, AMY-LOUISE MCKENZIE, SENIOR CHARGE NURSE ALISON FINDLAY AND DR MARGARET PEEBLES

Heartwarming Christmas reunion at Ninewells Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

A Fife mum said she feels like “all her Christmases have come at once” after being reunited with some of the neonatal clinical team who cared for her 25 years ago in Ninewells Hospital.

Amy-Louise McKenzie weighed just 2lb 11oz when she was born nine weeks prematurely and spent more than two years in hospital being treated for a bowel condition.

After she was diagnosed with necrotising enterocolitis, which is an inflammatory condition that affects the bowel, Amy-Louise has continued to receive treatment for the condition throughout her life.

Now aged 25 and a mum herself to her four-year-old son Liam, Amy-Louise and her mum Karen Molyneux visited the neonatal unit for an emotional reunion with some of the staff involved in

Amy-Louise’s care.

Senior charge nurse Alison Findlay, senior nurse Alison Wright and consultant paediatrician Dr Margaret Peebles, who was a junior doctor in the neonatal intensive care unit 25 years ago, were just some of the staff reunited with Amy-Louise and her mum during the visit.

Amy-Louise said, “I feel like all my dreams have came true, and all my Christmas's have come at once!

“I have wanted to come to the hospital to do this for a long time to thank everyone for saving my life.

“This means so much to me and my mum to be able to meet the nurses and staff all again.

“It is very emotional. I was obviously only a baby but my mum remembers everything about this time and we are so grateful for everything the doctors and nurses did.

“I just wanted to say thank you in person for everything they did for me and for all the wonderful work they do for families in Tayside.”

Her mum Karen said, “The words thank you will never be enough for everything they have done. I am so grateful for the opportunity to come and thank them as without them I wouldn’t have the amazing family I have now.”

Senior Charge Nurse Alison Findlay said, “Amy contacted us never expecting any one of us to still be working here after all these years. She was ecstatic when I spoke to her and told her that I had looked after her and that there were others still working here that did so too. 

“We are delighted to know she is doing well and that she is a mum herself now.

“We are privileged to meet her and her Mum again after all these years. What a fantastic Christmas present for us all."

In the last year alone, 562 babies were cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit, with 247 premature infants being born.

The unit has 21 cots - one isolation cot, four intensive care cots, four high dependency cots and 12 special care cots. There are also four transitional care beds where mums can stay with their babies prior to being discharged home.

Notes to Editors – Value Your NHS

Value Your NHS is a campaign for NHS staff, patients and their families, carers and the general public to engage and inform around the challenges that the NHS faces over the coming years. These challenges include an increasingly ageing population with longer life expectancy, increasing numbers of people with long-term and multiple conditions, increasing costs and growing demand for services combined with continuing pressures on public finances.

NHS Tayside is committed to making the best use of public money while ensuring we continue to deliver person-centred, high quality and effective care to our patients. Value Your NHS will encourage the general public and our staff to also make the best use of these resources, to ensure we are able to continue to deliver sustainable healthcare into the future.

As part of the campaign, we are asking staff, patients and the public to tell us what the NHS means to them and their families. We are asking them to take a photo of themselves making a ‘hand heart’ and saying why they value NHS Tayside by tweeting or posting on Facebook using the hashtag #lovenhstayside.

Contact:

Debbie Huband

NHS Tayside Communications

(01382) 740134